Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat After Forty by Suzanne Somers Page A

this is unhealthy weight loss). If cortisol is overactive (high), either systemically or intra-cellularly (in fat cells), it promotes weight gain.
    When estrogen drops, cortisol rises, because the inhibiting effect estrogen had on the enzyme that transforms cortisone into active cortisol is now mostly gone.
    High cortisol can be rectified by estrogen, DHEA, and testosteronesupplementation in a bioidentical form. Because high cortisol promotes the formation of new fat cells from connective tissue cells, you want to get that down, and can do so by replacing the hormones that have declined with age.
    Thyroid . Thyroid is the fat-burning hormone. If thyroid levels are low, thyroid supplementation can promote weight loss. Blood tests frequently miss weak thyroid function, and doctors often don’t even check rT3 (reverse T3) levels, so it is important that you find a doctor who does not rely solely on lab results and will conduct a thorough clinical evaluation. And you need a doctor who understands how to read the overly broad ranges of normal, an example being the “shrinking TSH range.” If you’re scratching your head, let me explain.
    Kathy Simpson wrote in her book
The Woman’s Guide to Thyroid Health:
“With hypothyroidism [low thyroid], we don’t metabolize food effectively and the calories we consume turn into fat instead of energy. This weight gain is insidious, and neither diet nor exercise resolves it. When weight gain is caused strictly by low thyroid function and not other endocrine deficiencies as well, fat tends to be symmetrically distributed on the body.… When low pituitary function is at the root of low thyroid function, weight gain is generally confined to the area from your abdomen to just above your knees. The skin of a person with hypothyroidism also takes on a flabby look, as overall musculature is affected, too.”
    Symptoms of an underactive thyroid can include yellow palms, yellow bottoms of feet, missing the outer third of the eyebrows, constipation, slow pulse, cold hands, frequent infections, sensitivity to heat and cold, reduced sweating, dry skin, tongue swelling, and others. You don’t need to have all of these symptoms for thyroid to be a factor. Any one of these can be an indicator of low thyroid.
    Constipation is extremely common with low thyroid. Both digestion of food and excretion of wastes are slowed along with everything else in the body. The specific cause is deficient muscular action of the abdominal walls and intestines. Bowel movements should occur every twelve to twenty-four hours, but if your thyroid is low they may occur much lessfrequently, in some cases just once a week. This results in painful hemorrhoids and painful bowel movements, and causes a buildup of toxins because waste products are not excreted as they should be. The fermentation of wastes caused by the extended time it takes for food to move through your digestive tract often results in a lot of gas, which further distends your abdomen.
    Imbalanced hormones can cause mild to severe bloating. Thyroid, if low, could be your culprit.
    Many environmental chemicals have structures very similar to certain hormones and are toxic to the thyroid. These chemicals can fit into the cellular receptors for these thyroid hormones, with serious consequences. Many of these chemicals mimic estrogen, but some also interfere with the usage and metabolism of thyroid, testosterone, and other hormones. When thyroid function is affected by these chemicals, it can’t do its job of destroying poisonous substances and infectious agents. Dr. Davis Lamson, a colleague of mine at Tahoma Clinic, has shown that toxic metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and many others can cause elevations of the “blocking” thyroid hormone, reverse T3 or rT3. A chelation test will measure metal toxicity to determine if this is your issue.
    Fluoride, heavy metals, chemicals like perchlorates (found in drinking water), and X-rays all can negatively affect